Episode-07- Is Prayer Effective – A Deists View of Prayer

Today we start out with a simple question, is prayer effective at all. We then go further to realize that this question is not as simple as most people make it. Prayer in fact can be effective even if God doesn’t exist and even if there is nothing super natural or even energetic going on. Simply because prayer can improve a person in many ways for example in one way, it can increase empathy. We go forward from there with a deep dive into things like ritual, energy and simply realizing our connection to the creation itself.

6 comments to Episode-07- Is Prayer Effective – A Deists View of Prayer

I wish more Christians would see prayer like this. Sadly I see more use it as something to hold them back rather then lift them up sometimes. One of the reasons I quit going to Sunday school was it always seemed as though people would rather “pray” then act.

Almost to the point I felt some would rather pray for light in the room rather then get up and turn the lights on. They would apply the common theme “I prayed about it, it didn’t happen; so I guess it wasn’t meant to be.” to things like not being able to find a job, etc.

I love it and I hate it at the same time because I have seen it and in the words of Dr. Sheldon Cooper,

“One cries because one is sad, for instance when I see stupid people it makes me sad”.

And I am not picking on Theism here but rather the form described by this mindset. At one time I was a theist, but I never did this stupid shit.

“I prayed about a job and haven’t found one so I guess God has other plans”.

How about your fing plan to get off your lazy fing ass and beat the damn streets from sun up till sun down until you find a damn job?

“I have prayed about my diabetes but not sure what God has planned for me with it”. (actual person I counseled in my church when I was a theist)

My honest to God response,

“Perhaps you should stop eating two donuts every Sunday just here at church and adjust your diet. You have type 2 diabetes which is 100% related to your life style choices, I don’t know if God will intervene on behalf of the sick, but if he will I am sure he’d help the type 1 guy stuck with this by accident of birth rather that the person who has chosen to do it to himself. May be you should come up with a new diet plan and pray that God HELP YOU stick to it rather than ask him to do something for you that you could choose to do yourself, right now”?

And for that I was counseled about my counseling. It was the beginning of the end of my time as a theist.

Same thing with “sending prayers” to a disaster. Great but how about sending water, food, money, etc. instead?

No offense intended, but I think you’re just creating your own religion at this site, which appears to me, to be an amalgam of Deism, with someone’s imagination. It is being called “modern Deism” but I would challenge the Deism component of this philosphy. Much of it would fly in the face of Deism.

One illustration is this episode related to Deists and prayer. A Deist like Thomas Paine for example, would suggest that there is no evidence- or even an observable indication- that we can “get in touch with higher energy” through prayer. Of course, anyone is free to believe whataver they wish to, but it doesnt stand up to the most rudimentary scrutiny, and it defies reason. Therefore it would not be consistent with Deism at all to state such a thing.

No offense intended but your critique about prayer doesn’t sound like you actually listened to the audio here, either that or you failed to comprehend it. An internal dialog that acts as a form of meditation has no need of direct connection to any higher power to be effective.

At no point in this audio or in any article on this site did I ever state that I believed that god hears or responds to prayer. Please directly quote where I did so since you seem to infer otherwise.